My Department received an application for a grant from the health and children allocation of national lottery funds on 12 June 2003 from the organisation referred to.
I would like to inform the Deputy that I approved a grant of €20,000 from my Department's 2003 allocation of national lottery funds for this organisation and notified them of my decision on 18 December 2003. The procedures relating to the payment of any grant requires that the relevant tax reference number or charitable status (CHY) number be quoted on any application for a grant. This information was not provided by the organisation and accordingly the finance unit of my Department wrote to the organisation on 31 December 2003 requesting this information.
As soon as the finance unit receives this information, it will enable payment of the grant to be made to the organisation. As the Deputy will be aware, the provision of health services in the Galway area is, in the first instance, the responsibility of the Western Health Board. My Department has, therefore, asked the chief executive of the board to investigate the matter raised by the Deputy and reply direct to him as a matter of urgency.